In the past several years, automatic tobacco harvesters have met with substantial commercial success and have been widely accepted by tobacco farmers, especially in flue-cured tobacco growing areas. Harrington Manufacturing Company of Lewiston, North Carolina, is now presently producing and marketing one row and two row self-propelled automatic tobacco harvesters or combines, as well as a pull type automatic tobacco harvester just recently introduced. The basic design and function of such automatic tobacco harvesters is well known and appreciated by those skilled in the art. But for a unified and complete understanding of automatic tobacco harvesters and the manner in which they operate, one is referred to the disclosure found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,071 granted to Jesse R. Pinkham et al on Oct. 15, 1974, this patent being expressly incorporated herein by reference.
From a review of a conventional automatic tobacco harvester, it is appreciated that the same includes a main frame, at least one defoliator assembly carried thereby for defoliating leaves from respective stalks of a row during the harvesting operation, and a conveyor system for receiving defoliated leaves and generally conveying the leaves rearwardly and upwardly about the harvester to where the leaves are discharged from an upper rearward elevated area into a leaf collecting receptacle such as a trailer or a box type container, or onto a cross conveyor where the leaves may be conveyed into a trailer being pulled through the field during the harvesting operation. In reviewing the Pinkham et al patent referred to above, it is seen that a part of the leaf conveying means provided for comprises a longitudinal conveyor assembly that comprises an endless wire chain conveyor that extends generally horizontal adjacent the defoliator assembly, after which the wire chain conveyor assembly is inclined upwardly towards the rear of the harvester and terminates about an rearward elevated end. The upwardly inclined section of the wire chain conveyor assembly is provided with a series of rollers that are generally driven by the frictional engagement of the upper run of the wire chain conveyor assembly therewith during the conveying operation, and wherein the tobacco leaf material being elevated is generally conveyed between the respective upper rollers and the upper run of the wire chain conveyor assembly that forms a part of the inclined or leaf elevating portions of the longitudinal conveyor assembly means of said tobacco harvester.